Fencing in Dixons Creek

Two overlays to check

Dixons Creek, with 344 people, has no residential zone: it is green wedge farmland, rural conservation land and public reserves. Most of the private land is under SLO6, some under SLO2. Under either one, a fence needs a planning permit unless it is rural post and open-weave wire under 1.8 m.

About half of the locality is also under ESO1, Yarra Ranges' environmental overlay. ESO1 has a fence permit trigger whose wording is ambiguous, so even a plain post and wire fence there is worth a call to Yarra Ranges' planning team before you build.

Your VicPlan property report shows whether ESO1 is on your lot.

Checked 25 October 2026 against Vicmap Planning, the state's zone and overlay maps (DataVic), measured across the suburb, Yarra Ranges Planning Scheme, Schedules to Clause 42.03 (SLO1–6, SLO22, SLO23) and Yarra Ranges Planning Scheme, Schedules to Clause 42.01 (ESO1, ESO2).

Where the farm meets the reserve

A fifth of Dixons Creek is public conservation land. The Crown doesn't pay toward a fence on unalienated Crown land, and a council holding a public park isn't an owner under the Fences Act, so a boundary fence against a reserve is usually yours. Against a neighbouring farm, the cost of a sufficient fence, usually post and wire, is shared. Farm fencing covers barbed wire and wildlife.

Checked 25 October 2026 against Vicmap Planning, the state's zone and overlay maps (DataVic), measured across the suburb, Fences Act 1968 (Vic), authorised version 072 and Victorian Government: fencing in Victoria.

Fences and fire

Many houses here were destroyed in the Black Saturday fires, and more than half the locality is in the Bushfire Management Overlay. CFA's garden advice favours non-combustible fences and stone walls, and keeping fences away from windows, decks and eaves; that is advice, not a rule. For an older boundary fence, clearing a fence line explains the 4 m exemption.

Checked 25 October 2026 against Wikipedia: Dixons Creek, Victoria, Vicmap Planning, the state's zone and overlay maps (DataVic), measured across the suburb, CFA: designing a fire-resistant garden and Victoria Planning Provisions, Clause 52.12 (bushfire protection exemptions).

Over the hill

Steels Creek

SLO6 on all its private land, and ESO1 on more of it.

Yarra Glen

A township under SLO23, which has no fence rule, with SLO2 flats around it.

Checked 25 October 2026 against Yarra Ranges Planning Scheme, Schedules to Clause 42.03 (SLO1–6, SLO22, SLO23).